KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Reuters) - Police searches at places linked to former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak are related to an investigation into state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a senior police official told Reuters.

Amar Singh, the director of police commercial crime investigations, told Reuters that searches are being carried out at several locations, including the prime minister’s office and residences linked to Najib.

“Yes, definitely,” Singh said, when asked whether the searches were related to investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

“We are in the midst of collecting information, we will have more details once we have completed our search,” he said declining to elaborate further.

A multibillion-dollar scandal at 1MDB, which was founded by Najib, is being investigated in at least six countries, including the United States. Najib denies any wrongdoing. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Writing by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)